Gaoyu still didn't answer. He simply smiled at Rukia.
Looking at Gaoyu's smile, Rukia gradually lost some of her confidence and sat back down. She fell silent as well.
She liked sweets, while Byakuya liked spicy food. Whenever they ate at home, the food was always sweet.
This...
What did that mean?
Big brother...
Could he actually be looking out for her?
But...
Why?
Could Vice-Captain Gaoyu be lying?
Rukia looked at Gaoyu, momentarily distracted.
"I'm Renji's good friend," Gaoyu said. "To be honest, I've seen you a few times already, but every time I see you, you seem rather gloomy."
"You're Renji's friend, and I'm Renji's friend too, so that makes you my friend as well. I'm only telling you this because I don't want my friends to be unhappy every day."
"Usually, there's no need to shut your heart away," Gaoyu said. "Accept who you are, and you'll naturally notice the love of the people around you."
With that, Gaoyu stood up.
He walked over to Rukia and patted her on the shoulder.
"Your ten minutes are almost up. You should head home. Don't make your big brother worry."
Then Gaoyu left the room.
After paying the bill, Rukia came out too.
She saw Gaoyu standing at the entrance, walked over, and bowed slightly. "Thank you," she said softly.
This time, Gaoyu accepted her "bow" without hesitation.
He smiled. "Don't look so gloomy all the time. Look, if the stars aren't happy, how dull would the night be?"
He pointed up at the sky.
It was already dark, and the weather wasn't very good today. There were hardly any stars shining in the dark sky.
"..." Rukia didn't say anything. She just watched Gaoyu wave and walk away.
Then she turned and headed toward the Kuchiki Family's home.
Once he had left the Sixth District, Gaoyu chuckled softly.
This was the benefit of doing his homework.
If he hadn't done his homework, how could he have picked out the perfect books for Nanao?
If he hadn't done his homework, how would he have known that Rukia liked sweets and Byakuya liked spicy food?
Well, he had to give credit to his memories from his previous life. Who could blame him for being an ultimate Bleach fan back then? He even knew the Kuchiki Family's domestic affairs.
Thinking of that, Gaoyu felt rather pleased.
As for how things would develop between Rukia and the Kuchiki Family, he had no idea.
All he knew was that Rukia's favorability toward him had reached fifty-five. Soon, he'd be able to get a one-time "star."
Gaoyu hummed a little tune as he went home and let time pass.
Three months later, Gaoyu had raised Nanao's favorability toward him past sixty.
During those three months, Nanao had visited the Fifth Division library several times to borrow books, and Gaoyu had recommended them all.
Nanao's impression of Gaoyu had steadily improved. She believed that someone who liked reading couldn't possibly be a bad person.
"I wonder what kind of nonsense you fed little Nanao. I'm a captain, for goodness' sake, but she actually told me to 'learn properly from Vice-Captain Gaoyu.' What a blow to my pride."
Kyoraku Shunsui couldn't help complaining to Gaoyu once while they were drinking.
Gaoyu only chuckled.
Look at Nanao. At first, she barely gave me the time of day, but now she's willingly contributing her Soul Ability.
Give it a little longer, and I'm confident I can raise her favorability to eighty and permanently obtain Mirror Reflection!
And then there's you. Your favorability is practically stuck at fifty!
It was fifty three months ago, and it's still fifty now!
You ungrateful bastard!
Eventually, Gaoyu started giving Kyoraku Shunsui a slightly resentful look, making Shunsui's scalp tingle.
But the biggest change over those three months had been in White.
White had successfully completed its transformation and gained a very strange ability.
That was...
Whenever White killed a Soul Reaper, it evolved.
It didn't just become stronger; it also became more intelligent.
Its Hollow hole was now filled by a fleshy mass resembling a heart. Gaoyu had no idea how many Soul Reapers it had killed.
Gaoyu had only seen White twice since then. He knew that Aizen hadn't assigned White permanently to the Human World. It sometimes went to Rukongai to ambush patrolling Soul Reapers.
Then there was Rukia. Gaoyu had gone to the Thirteenth Division on an errand and seen her there once.
Rukia had thanked Gaoyu again, but he had no idea what had happened at the Kuchiki Family's home.
He'd thought time would keep passing peacefully, one step at a time, until the story began decades later.
But that day, while making his usual trip to the Fifth Division, Gaoyu overheard its members discussing something.
"Something happened?"
Gaoyu curiously went over to Momo Hinamori.
Momo had jumped at first, but relaxed when she saw it was Gaoyu.
She said, "The Soul Reapers of the Thirteenth Division were attacked by Hollows yesterday. Our people went to rescue them, but they were all killed too."
Gaoyu was surprised. "That's no small matter. Who died?"
"Sanada Ninth Seat died. I heard the Thirteenth Division's Third Seat died too."
Sanada had been promoted to Ninth Seat after Gaoyu, and Gaoyu hadn't even had the chance to obtain his Soul Ability before he died.
And the Thirteenth Division's Third Seat...
Shiba Miyako?
The Soul Reaper who died at Metastacia's hands in the original story—the wife of Shiba Kaien—had still died in the end?
Was this what they called the inertia of history?
He had already killed Metastacia, and yet she had still met with disaster?
Although Gaoyu had no idea what was going on, he knew that whenever something bad happened, he could just go to Aizen.
Everything was Aizen's fault.
Gaoyu said goodbye to Momo and walked into Aizen's office.
Aizen was reading the latest issue of the Seireitei Communications.
The Thousand-Year Blood War that Gaoyu had released had come out three months ago. It had already run for thirteen installments.
The story was now at the point where the protagonist, Akaboshi Gamma, had gathered a group of companions and was fighting a werewolf who had fallen into the Animal Realm to help his navigator.
"If you write it this way, Captain Komamura won't be happy," Aizen said when he saw Gaoyu come in.
"That's all right," Gaoyu replied. "It's not as if there won't be any good werewolves. I'm even planning to have one join the protagonist's crew later."
"Anyway, let's not talk about that." Gaoyu sat down across from Aizen and asked, "I heard something happened last night. What was it?"
Aizen kept reading the Seireitei Communications as he replied, "I only know the broad strokes. It seems the Thirteenth Division's Third Seat, Shiba Miyako, discovered a strange Hollow."
"She was too confident, convinced she could handle it. In the end, she died beneath its blade."
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